Larry Ellison pledges $40 billion personal guarantee for Paramount’s Warner Bros. bid

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Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, has offered to personally back Paramount’s attempt to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, essentially promising to cover some of the financial risk.

Larry Ellison has pledged $40.4 billion of his own money, revealed on Monday, increasing the stakes in the competitive bidding war for Warner Bros., including its movie and TV studios, HBO, CNN, and the Food Network.

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Larry Ellison, a major figure in the tech world, attempted to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, but Netflix won the deal. This has led to a potential legal battle that could significantly impact the future of the entertainment industry.

Okay, so Larry Ellison – you know, the Oracle guy, and dad to Paramount’s CEO – has basically promised not to mess with the family trust or move any of its money around while this deal with Paramount is happening. Good news is, the offer still stands at $30 a share, which is what we’ve been hearing. Seems like everyone’s trying to keep things stable until everything goes through, and as a movie fan, I’m hoping this all works out!

As a movie critic, I’m hearing some fascinating news about the streaming wars. It seems Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has effectively given the green light to Netflix, at least in terms of industry approval. But the big story is that they turned down Paramount’s massive $108.4 billion deal. The main reason? Concerns about how solid Paramount’s financial backing actually is. It seems they weren’t convinced the deal was financially stable enough.

Paramount changed its strategy and made a direct offer to Warner’s investors to buy their shares for $30 each, bypassing Warner’s management in what’s known as a hostile takeover.

Paramount announced in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission on Monday that they’ve revised their offer to address concerns Warner Bros. had about previous proposals. They also stated that Larry Ellison is personally guaranteeing the $40.4 billion in funding from the Ellison Trust.

In August, the Ellison family became the majority owner of Paramount. The following month, they tried to buy Warner Bros., but Warner’s board turned down all six offers from Paramount.

Paramount initially offered $19 per share to buy the whole company. Netflix, however, has offered $27.75 per share, but is only interested in purchasing the Burbank studios, HBO, and the HBO Max streaming service. Paramount leaders recently met with Warner Bros. investors in New York, reiterating their offer from the end of last week’s bidding process.

On Monday, Paramount also raised the fee it would pay to end the deal to $5.8 billion, the same amount Netflix had offered.

Warner Bros.’ board of directors unanimously agreed to Netflix’s $72 billion acquisition offer, explaining that Netflix is in a better financial position, according to a statement from the board.

Hollywood Inc.

A group representing movie theater owners quickly criticized Netflix’s almost $83 billion agreement to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO. Netflix has historically skipped traditional movie theaters, choosing to release films directly on its streaming service.

Royal families in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, through their investment funds, have pledged $24 billion towards the $40.4 billion Ellison is contributing to the project.

The Ellison family will contribute $11.8 billion towards the deal. Originally, Paramount’s offer involved a private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, but that firm pulled out last week.

Paramount has verified that the Ellison family trust holds approximately 1.16 billion shares of Oracle stock, and that all significant financial obligations are already public information.

Paramount has updated its merger proposal to give Warner Bros. more freedom in how it manages its debts and day-to-day operations while the deal is pending. This change is in response to Warner Bros.’s request for greater ‘flexibility’ during this period, according to Paramount’s statement.

Paramount has been aggressively pursuing Warner Bros. for months

David Ellison was surprised earlier this month when Warner Bros. directors approved a $82.7 billion deal with Netflix, selling off their streaming and studio properties.

Paramount then made a direct offer to Warner Bros. shareholders to buy the company, bypassing the board. Warner Bros.’ board strongly advised shareholders to refuse the offer, which involved $54 billion in financing, calling it too low and risky. They were particularly concerned about how Paramount would pay for the deal and the fact that Paramount could potentially cancel it at any moment.

Paramount, owned by the Ellison family, is vying with the world’s most valuable entertainment company to buy Warner Bros.

I’ve been following the potential sale of Warner Bros.’ content library, and it’s clear both Paramount and Netflix really want it. Each company is making a strong case that they are the ones who could best leverage that library to improve their streaming services and attract more subscribers. It’s a classic battle of who can make the most of a valuable asset.

Last week, Warner Bros. sent a letter to its shareholders and filed a 94-page document with regulators, where it raised concerns about the proposed deal with Paramount. Specifically, Warner Bros. questioned whether the Ellison family would fully deliver on their promised financial support for the deal.

The company’s financial backing comes from a complex and unclear trust, according to the board. Documents provided by Paramount have significant weaknesses and potential problems that could harm shareholders and the company itself.

On Monday, Netflix announced it replaced a portion of its $59 billion short-term loan with new debt that has lower interest rates and a longer repayment period.

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2025-12-22 19:32